FRA's National Executive Director
(NED) Thomas Snee recently met with Rep. Phil Roe (Tenn.), Chairman of the
House Veterans Affairs Committee, to discuss FRA's Legislative Agenda. Director
of Legislative Programs John Davis and Veterans' Services Officer Chris
Slawinski also attended the meeting. NED Snee congratulated the Chairman for
the House passing of the GI Bill reform (see story below). As well as thanked
the Chairman for having a HVAC subcommittee hearing earlier in the year on the
"Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act" (H.R.299) that would allow
"Blue Water" veterans who served off the coast of Vietnam to be
compensated for service connected disabilities related to their exposure to the
Agent Orange herbicide. Dr. Roe offered to have a committee vote on the Blue
Water Navy bill if it could be amended to round down veteran's monthly benefits
to the nearest dollar. FRA wants to know your thoughts on this trade-off.
Please take the one-question survey by clicking here.

Snee also expressed his concern
and the Association's opposition to the administration's request to eliminate
the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Individual Unemployability benefits for
veterans, once they start collecting Social Security benefits at age 62. The
program awards benefits at 100 percent for veterans who cannot find work due to
their service-connected disability. NED expressed the need to expand the VA
Caregiver program to all catastrophically disabled veterans. Currently the
program only applies to veterans disabled after September 11, 2001. Members are
urged to use the FRA Action
Center on these and other issues.

House Passes GI Bill
Reform

The House unanimously passed
(405-0) major reform of the Post 9/11 GI Bill program (H.R.3218) this week.
Major provisions of the bill include:

• Eliminating the 15 year time
limit for using education benefits,

• Abolishing exemption for GI Bill
credit for Reserve Component members called to active duty under
specified circumstances,

• Providing beneficiaries will not
have to pay back tuition paid to attend schools that close or lose
accreditation, and

• Awarding benefits to Purple
Heart recipients without them being required to serve 36 months of active duty.

The bill now goes to the Senate
for further consideration. Members can use the FRA Action Center to
support these improvements.

FRA Opposes Financial
Institutions Forced Arbitration

FRA signed onto The Military
Coalition (TMC) letter of support for the Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau's (CFPB) final rule on arbitration agreements. The proposed rule
addresses the widespread harm of forced arbitration by preserving the ability
of service members and consumers banding together to seek relief through the
civil justice system when financial institutions have broken the law.

Forced arbitration is a system
wherein service members' claims against a corporation are funneled into a rigged,
secretive system in which all the rules, including the choice of the
arbitrator, are picked by the corporation. Forced arbitration clauses include a
provision banning the rights of consumers to ban together to hold a corporation
accountable.

Our service members protect our
nation against both foreign and domestic threats. The sacrifices they and their
families make in order to serve are compelling reasons alone to ensure they are
not only shielded from predatory financial practices and unscrupulous lenders,
but are also able to use our civil justice system if and when violations arise.

In related news the House recently
passed the "Financial CHOICE Act" (H.R.10), which seeks to
dramatically reshape the regulation of banking and other financial activities.
This legislation includes a number of provisions weakening the CFPB and its
Office of Service Members Affairs.

The bill now goes to the Senate
for further consideration. Members can use the FRA Action Center located on
our website to ask their Senators to oppose this legislation.

If you would like to hear a recorded version of NewsBytes, dial 1-800-FRA-1924 (ext. 112)